A coroner could not say whether a delayed ambulance response contributed to a man’s death, an inquest heard.

Ryan Scorer, 28, died after falling into cardiac arrest at his home on Ferriby Road in Barton-Upon-Humber in July 2016.

The inquest heard an ambulance took 27 minutes to arrive at the scene after the first 999 call was made.

East Midlands Ambulance (EMAS) say the nearest available paramedic in an ambulance car was sent to Mr Scorer nine minutes after the call was made, although due to the hard-to-reach geographical location of his home, it took 18 minutes to arrive.

Mr Scorer’s mother, Karen McDonnel, told the inquest, via a written statement, that he was a quiet boy growing up who suffered from anxiety and panic attacks as well as asthma.

"He struggled to fit in at school and suffered from anxiety," she said.

She added that after leaving The Vale Academy in Brigg, he fell into the wrong crowd and began taking drugs.

After being sent to prison and becoming a father, he turned his life around and began volunteering at Waters’ Edge Visitor Centre. as he took an interest in wildlife and gardening.

On July 23, his partner Tanya Smith and their son Bradley returned home as Ryan was playing on a PlayStation.

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Ryan was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary following the arrival of the back up response to Ferriby Road.

Coroner Mark Kendall asked if there were any other options as to where to take Mr Scorer following the incident.

Brian Jaffrey, quality compliance manager at EMAS, said: "We always look at the nearest hospital of where we can get the best treatment as quickly as possible."

The inquest heard, following a post-mortem examination by Dr Cooke at Lincoln County Hospital, that toxic levels of methadone were found in a blood sample.

Mr Kendall concluded Mr Scorer’s death was drug-related due to a respiratory depression and lethal levels of methadone.

He added that the response did not arrive at the scene as time schedules require but could not say if it would have had any bearing on what happened.

East Midlands Ambulance Service received 3,021 calls on the night of the incident.

A statement from Mr Jaffrey after the inquest said: "We always aim to get to our patients as quickly as possible and we are extremely sorry that on this occasion, we were unable to reach Mr Scorer sooner.

"When we received the 999 call alerting us to the emergency we were under significant pressure due to high demand and all nearby crews were already with patients.

"The nearest available paramedic in an ambulance car was immediately sent to Mr Scorer, although due to the hard-to-reach geographical location of his home, it took 18 minutes to arrive.

"Once on scene, our paramedics did everything they could to save his life.

"Following the inquest, the coroner recorded a verdict of death by probable lethal dose of methadone, and was unable to say whether an ambulance arriving to Mr Scorer sooner would have had an impact on his outcome.

"We are sorry that the delay experienced will have caused additional distress to Mr Scorer’s family."